ERP Beginner’s Guide

ERP Beginner’s Guide

In this week’s Blog, Softengine Blog Spot presents an ERP Beginner’s Guide! Navigating the details and information regarding what an ERP offers can be extremely daunting and time-consuming, so this week, we have compiled a few general, beneficial elements of an ERP! Understanding what exactly an ERP is and how it can help maximize business efficiency is a great starting point. Read on to gain insight into introductory yet integral ERP information!

To begin, defining what exactly an ERP is will help build the foundation for further information discussed throughout this blog. ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning and serves as a software to help automate, control, manage, and integrate core business functions and processes through module-based functionality. By integrating and communicating information between different departments, ERP also greatly benefits cross-departmental visibility. From accounting, inventory management, manufacturing and production, warehouse management, sales, delivery, reporting, and more, ERP helps paint a clear, accessible image of business performance and activities.

Many who inquire about implementing an ERP have concerns regarding customizability and how the software will work for their specific business. The majority of ERP’s come equipped with high levels for extensive customizability to ensure that the business will get the most out of the software implementation (1). SAP Business One, a leading ERP for SMB’s, offers a plethora of customizable options, from creating user-specific dashboards and interfaces to hiding certain modules or functions that the user does not interact with on a daily basis.

A second point to touch on is concerns about how productivity will increase post-implementation. It is quite understandable for potential customers to wonder about how an ERP will boost their businesses’ productivity, and there are multiple ways that productivity levels have the opportunity to increase with an ERP. One key way is the increased efficiency of automating tasks that would have previously been required to complete manually. By eliminating tedious and repetitive tasks, productivity will increase and more will processes will be able to be completed in smaller amounts of time. Along with the shorter completion times, the completed processes are also extremely accurate due to the automation. Leaving room for little error coupled with faster completion rates, productivity and efficiency are key results an ERP offers (2).

Finally, an important feature of an ERP that is important for inquiring customers to be familiar with is the opportunities for collaboration due to integrated information and visibility. Siloed departments and information can have negative impacts on business operation. ERP eliminates those silos and allows for collaboration amongst departments to ensure that important information is communicated properly. A reoccurring issue for growing businesses concerns data location. ERP stores all data in one location making it easily accessible across departments. The ability to see activity occurring within the various modules by other users increases visibility and spreads important information across all users of the ERP (3).

We hope that this beginner’s guide of becoming familiar with a few key features of what an ERP offers is helpful on the journey of discovering more about ERP! SAP Business One is a leading ERP Software for the SMB market. Complete with robust functionalities, features, and customizable options, SAP Business One is a great option for growing companies looking for greater functionality, efficiency, and effectiveness within the internal business structures. Business One includes all of the features discussed above along with many more unique opportunities to streamline business operations and view internal information with ease.

Softengine is a SAP Gold Partner specializing in SAP Business One! Our team is well-equipped and ready to help with inquiries or further information regarding SAP Business One working for your business.

Contact us for more information: info@softengine.com

Further information about SAP Business One: https://softengine.com/product/sap-business-one

Resources:

1. https://peoplemanagingpeople.com/articles/how-to-use-erp-software/
2. https://solutionsreview.com/enterprise-resource-planning/the-best-benefits-of-having-an-erp-system/
3. https://www.planettogether.com/blog/10-benefits-of-implementing-erp-software